These are the three hat patterns in the Brioche Hat Trick e-book, available through Ravelry as a pdf download. I went for a botanical theme, so they’re Clematis Seed (the swirly seed pod), Golden Chain (Laburnum tree), and Heliotrope (heliotropism is the directional growth of a plant towards sunlight, and the leaves on this hat are seeking the sun.) Clematis Seed is the simplest of the three; it’s plain brioche rib until you get to the swirly top. Golden Chain and Heliotrope are great next steps with a bit of simple increasing and decreasing to form the stitch patterns.

I wasn’t planning to write up the cowls, but I was halfway there already. The Brioche Hat Trick e-book has patterns for three hats and two cowls. The patterns are $6 each, or the whole e-book of five patterns for $16.

These are all knit with heavy worsted/Aran weight yarn. I used Malabrigo Worsted for everything except the Heliotrope Cowl; that piece is made with Malabrigo Rios and Wisdom Yarns Poems Silk Multi. I’ve been wearing it constantly since it came off my needles last week.

As part of this pattern release, I made a video tutorial! There’s a link to it in each of the patterns, and I’ve also updated my free pattern Petite Brioche to include the link, too.

I’m not sure I’m ready to return to lacy fingering weight shawls. Perhaps a fingering weight brioche detour is in my future! But not until after Madrona this weekend. Back to prepping for classes!

The Puget Sound Shawl is a two color half-pi (semi-circular) shawl, knit flat. It features sunshine and rain, seagulls, the Olympic Mountains, and waves lapping the shore. The magic of slipped stitches creates two-color motifs in the sunshine and seagull sections, but only one color is worked in each row.

This was my shawl for By Hand Serial’s Look Book #4, Puget Sound. Publication rights have returned to me, and I’m pleased to offer this pattern on Ravelry. The pattern page is here.

If you’re a newsletter subscriber, check your email next week for a special offer. I’m nearly ready to publish the brioche hat patterns, and want to put it all into one newsletter on Monday.

My favorite part of this shawl? The seagulls. You may remember that I used them again in my Cannon Beach cowl and mitts.

I just bound off my last (for now) brioche project. It’s the cowl I started before I took the deep dive into the brioche hats. (Hats are currently being test knit, and the pictures coming in are lovely.)

I’m looking forward to wearing this cowl. Although Biscuit thinks that it belongs to her.

There *is* precedent for cats and cowls! (Mookie in my Sakura cowl, 2016.)

My needles are currently empty, and I’m not sure what to knit next. I need to get back to my beaded 2 color version of my Nymphaea shawl (shown here in a lovely purple gradient from June Pryce Fiber Arts, available from Bead Biz.)

I’m knitting it in green and blue, the same colors as in my Tumbling Leaves, but with Atlantic as the main color and Hellebore as the contrast color. Yes, I loved these colors in Bumblebirch’s Heartwood so much that I’m using them again! But I don’t need this shawl until Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival in September when the pattern returns to me, so it’s not urgent.

I was hoping to do a Snowy Woods Log Cabin blanket for the #fringeandfriendslogalong, but that was derailed by my brioche obsession. It’s late in the logalong game, but I’m tempted to knit a pair of Karen Templer’s Log Cabin Mitts (free pattern, just published on her Fringe Association site). After knitting the log cabin blocks, there’s a mitered square thumb, which looks cool. I haven’t done a log cabin block with a mitered square in it yet, so that would be exciting. I just looked in my stash, and this may be do-able. Either 3 shades of Knit Picks Wool of the Andes, or a single color shifting skein of Noro Taiyo (which isn’t very soft…).

Or should I be restrained and just knit some log cabin washcloths from the Mason-Dixon Knitting Field Guide #4? They’ve elaborated on their pick up method a little bit since the blankets in their original book, which is where I learned to log cabin. I need to see if I like the new way better. Only one way to find out!

What’s on your needles? Inspire me!

]]>https://pdxknitterati.com/2018/02/03/at-loose-ends-seeking-new-project-and-a-book-winner/feed/5pdxknitteratiRe-introducing Athenahttps://pdxknitterati.com/2018/01/27/re-introducing-athena/
https://pdxknitterati.com/2018/01/27/re-introducing-athena/#commentsSat, 27 Jan 2018 19:19:01 +0000http://pdxknitterati.com/?p=11400Continue reading →]]>I’m teaching my Athena Entrelac Cowl at Madrona Fiber Arts Festival in February. I love entrelac; it makes a knitter feel ever so clever! It’s even easier when you have a slow color changing yarn to make the color choices for you. And the work just kind of pulls you along; you want to knit just one more square, and then another, and another.

The original Athena is all in the round. I’ve taught this class a lot, and it’s easier to teach entrelac in the round. But learning to knit entrelac flat is good, too. It just requires two more units, the left and right edge triangles. Too much at the beginning of a class, but it’s not hard.

So I’ve just updated my Athena pattern with an optional split ending; there’s just a little smidge of those left and right edge triangles to try after getting comfortable with the left and right leaning rectangles.

If you’ve already purchased Athena through Ravelry, you can download the update there. If Athena is new to you, I’d like to entice you to try entrelac with a 10% discount on the pattern through February 5. No coupon code needed.

In other news, the brioche hat patterns have gone out to test knitters; I’m looking forward to feedback on those. I did re-work the top of the plain ribbed hat. Twice. It wasn’t pretty enough the first two times. Now I’m in LOVE.

I finished this hat on Saturday evening, but changed my mind about the crown shaping. About to start that again.

In other news, happy birthday to DH! I decided to get cases for his autographed baseballs. They’ve been rolling around in a drawer for 30 years, so it’s about time we did something with them. Top to bottom: 1984 Portland Beavers (AAA farm team for the Phillies back then, and DH’s first job in baseball); 1986 World Champion NY Mets (DH’s first year working in Major League Baseball); 1968 St. Louis Cardinals (boyhood home team).

My Saturday stranded colorwork class was full, and my Sunday class was cancelled, so I ran away to the coast overnight.

Sasquatch lives! The ocean was rough, and the wind was intense, but the coast always clears my mind and brings me joy.

What’s bringing you joy this winter? I’ll have more joy when these hats are done!

I’m almost done knitting the third of my three brioche hats. Silly me, I started with the most complicated stitch pattern of the three, and now I’m doing the simplest. It’s plain two color brioche rib, and will be deep enough to turn up the bottom edge. You, dear knitter, can choose how deep to make yours; you don’t have to cuff the bottom if you don’t want to, or if you don’t want to knit endless brioche rib! I’m getting close…I think. I’ll be looking for a few test knitters for these lovelies; leave a comment if you’d like to knit one!

I’m also prepping an update of my Athena entrelac cowl pattern. I’ve added an option for a split ending (Athena has split ends!), which introduces a bit of flat entrelac. I’m updating the yarns used (the original is discontinued), giving more gauge options, and including this video tutorial on purling back without turning your work. It’s great for entrelac and for lace edgings, too. If you’ve already purchased Athena, you’ll be notified of an update which will include both options, soon.

Why the update? I’m teaching Athena for an entrelac class at Madrona Fiber Arts Festival, and the split end option gives you a chance to try a little flat entrelac after you have some experience with entrelac in the round. It’s not hard, but it’s too much to learn at the beginning of a 3 hour class, so now the option will be there at the end. Are you going to Madrona? There is still room in some of the regular classes, and the mini class schedule is up now, too. I’m teaching two minis, blocking and novelty stitches. Hope to see you there! It’s such a great event; the market is fabulous and there is always a lot going on besides the classes.

And! Do you know that Columbia Gorge Fiber Festival has added a spring event? It’s the Knot Another Fiber Festival at the Oregon Garden Resort in Silverton, Oregon, April 27-29. Check out the link here. I’m taking an all day class with Andrea Mowry on my favorite new technique, BRIOCHE! Always lots more to learn, right?

I’m doing a deep toss of my studio office. Lots of dumping and recycling going on, and I’ve moved more of my knitting books in, and more of my kiddos’ books out. I now have three shelves of knitting books. The top three shelves are mine, and the middle shelf of the three is the powerhouse; it has all my reference books.

I also found this lone mitten. Once upon a time, I made 8 pairs of these, with Bugs Bunny buttons, for eldest son’s third birthday. Pretty swank party favor! I knit these flat and seamed them, because I didn’t know how to knit in the round yet.

January feels like it’s time to tidy up! My studio is also the guest room, so it will be much nicer for guests to not be drowning in my yarn and papers.

I found duplicates of several books, so I want to have a giveaway. First, I have this book, Shetland Lace Knitting, in Japanese and in English (funny story here). I bought the book at Kinokuniya and decided I wanted to read the rest of the text. I found out that the original book is in English, so I bought that, too.

If you can work from charts, this book has lovely stitch patterns and edgings that are accessible to you. I’m having a drawing to give the Japanese copy away. Leave a comment below and let me know you’re interested! USA readers only this time, please. (I just sent a book to Canada last week, and it cost more than the book itself to send it, ouch.) I’ll pick a winner on January 31.

If you’re a newsletter subscriber, you can also reply to the upcoming newsletter for a second chance to win. (Newsletter coming out in a day or two.) Not a subscriber? You can subscribe here.

Last fun thing: I worked as an extra last summer on TNT’s The Librarians. Season 4, Episode 8 is now out there, and I can say that I saw myself very briefly!

(ETA: Video unavailable. Glad I got the screen shot while I could.)

The original call was for knitters, but they eventually changed the knitters into quilters, and I ended up being a townsperson, and not a needleworker at all! It was an interesting experience.

If you don’t blink, you can see me walking by in my Garland Shawl! So many hours for a tiny bit of screen time.

The Purple Hat ad we did at Twisted last year is airing again locally. That was much more fun to film, and had actual knitting in it. Here’s the backstory on that, if you missed it.

I’ve been playing with this hat project all week. It’s been a Goldilocks experience. Too tall? Too short? Just right? The top of this pink hat has been reworked a couple times, but I can’t complain about the view.

The pink version is snug and a little (but not too) short; it’s a cute beanie.

The blue version has 12 more stitches than the pink one, and at the same height it doesn’t feel quite secure on my head. I’m re-working it to be a little taller so it can come further down over the ears, or folded up at the bottom.

I’ll be knitting one more for a size in-between. Who said hats were simple? There’s a lot of planning going on here!

Oddly enough, it’s been very comfortable knitting with this wooly yarn in Hawaii! I brought a fingering weight shawl project, too, but I’ve been so smitten by this brioche I can’t stop playing with it.

We’ve had a great week. We came over on December 26, and now it’s time to go home. But here are some pretty pix from the week.

More turtles at Kiholo Bay, and we saw this petroglyph at the water’s edge.

When Hualalai erupted, these shells were caught in the lava. They’re being revealed through erosion. They look like frosting!

Kiholo Bay

We went night snorkeling with the mantas! (Picture from the Eka Canoe Website; I highly recommend this.) There were at least five of these magnificent creatures swimming with us, somersaulting and backflipping, close enough to touch (but you’re not supposed to. One brushed by DH; he said it felt like a shoe.

I knit this cowl for my sister. She’s a big University of Oregon Ducks fan, and the swirling circles made perfect O’s. After the perfect mirror symmetry of plain brioche rib, I was startled to see how different the front and back sides of patterned brioche are. Cool!

I ripped down this beginning of a brioche cowl; it wasn’t wide enough, and I wanted the leaves to be taller. But it all got sidetracked anyway…

because I wanted a hat. With those taller leaves.

I’m currently playing yarn chicken while trying to decide how to close the top. This is yarn left over after 3 Petite Brioche headbands. We’ll see if there’s enough to finish this hat. I hope so!

Is brioche knitting on your bucket list? Am I getting to you? Take a dip in the brioche pool with my free Petite Brioche headband/earwarmer pattern! It’s a gateway…

I’m back in the kitchen today, making some quick gifts. Of course they are boozy. These were on my blog last year at this time, but are still just as quick, easy, and delicious.

Last year’s big hit: DIY Irish Cream, adapted from Smitten Kitchen. This comes together in 5 minutes, and makes three of these cute 8 ounce bottles. (You get 30 oz of liquid, but I barely filled three of these 1/4 liter (8 oz) bottles the first time I made this. No worries; just adjust your expectations accordingly.)

In a small bowl, whisk cocoa powder and a spoonful of cream into a paste. Add more cream a splash at a time until the paste is liquid enough that you can whisk in the rest of the cream. Transfer to a pitcher, and whisk in condensed milk, whiskey and vanilla. Bottle for gifts. Keep refrigerated for up to two weeks. Seriously, how long do you think this will last? Give it a good shake before using; the cocoa wants to sink, and the cream wants to rise to the top. Of course!

My aunt sent me pears again this year, and in return she’ll get some cranberry pear bourbon jam. I get jam, pear tart, and pears for eating fresh. A good deal for both of us!

Combine chopped pears, cranberries, sugar cinnamon, lemon juice and zest, and water in a large pot. Stir to combine and let it rest until the sugar has begun to dissolve, about 10 minutes.

Place the pot over high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat simmer for 15-25 minutes or longer, stirring regularly, until it thickens. Add bourbon and ginger, and continue cooking until jam coats spoon without running off.

Ladle jam into prepared jars. Wipe rims, apply lids and rings and process jars in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

Makes 5 half pints. (If you need more thorough instructions for processing, go to Food in Jars! I’m assuming that you know how to jam.)

And I’m not currently making this one, because I still have some in my fridge to use on dessert. But you might need to make some, so here’s the recipe: Bourbon Caramel Sauce, recipe from Danielle Centoni. I’ve made this many times, and it always gets raves. We’ll be having some with ice cream on a pear tart tonight. My only warning on this one is don’t get greedy when caramelizing the sugar. It can go from perfect nut-brown to burnt in a blink. Brown enough is brown enough! This makes 2.5 cups; I usually gift it in little 4 ounce jars, because a little goes a long way.

This is Petite Brioche, a little headband/earband to keep the chill away. It’s also a great introduction to two color brioche rib in the round. It’s a quick little project, and you can still whip one out for a wee Christmas gift! Or save it for learning a new technique in 2018.

I used Malabrigo Merino Worsted for the purple version. Mmmmm, Malabrigo!

Happy new year!

]]>https://pdxknitterati.com/2017/12/20/free-pattern-petite-brioche/feed/10pdxknitterati2017 Year of Brioche?https://pdxknitterati.com/2017/12/19/2017-year-of-brioche/
https://pdxknitterati.com/2017/12/19/2017-year-of-brioche/#commentsTue, 19 Dec 2017 18:32:24 +0000http://pdxknitterati.com/?p=11204Continue reading →]]>It started in January, with a scarf.

This is the Never Fail Scarf, a free pattern from Mason-Dixon Knitting. Really fast, and a great learning tool for single color brioche knit flat.

Of course I had to figure out how to make that work in the round, for a timely pink-ish hat.

Then in February I took a brioche knitting class with JC Briar at Madrona. We worked flat samples, with selvages.

I forgot all about it, until this past week. After birthing my Cannon Beach Cowl & Mitts by knitting 3 cowls and 2 sets of mitts, I needed something fairly mindless to knit. Two color brioche in the round fit the bill.

And like Cannon Beach, it’s still only one color worked per round! I found this to be much simpler than two color brioche knit flat. No selvage stitches, and no way to choose the wrong working yarn. It was quick. So quick I had to get yarn to knit one for a friend.

And there you go. Do you want to try it? I’m writing up some instructions that make sense to me, link coming soon.

And because mental vacation is over…I’m playing with patterning. More on that later.

Do you brioche? Do you wanna? So zen!

]]>https://pdxknitterati.com/2017/12/19/2017-year-of-brioche/feed/11pdxknitteratiIntroducing: Cannon Beach Accessories Collectionhttps://pdxknitterati.com/2017/12/07/introducing-cannon-beach-accessories-collection/
https://pdxknitterati.com/2017/12/07/introducing-cannon-beach-accessories-collection/#commentsThu, 07 Dec 2017 18:43:55 +0000http://pdxknitterati.com/?p=11263Continue reading →]]>I’m so pleased with my newest design, the Cannon Beach Cowl. It just rolled off my needles because the yarn knew what it wanted to be. I love it when that happens!

Both the cowl and mitts are knit in the round from the top down in worsted to Aran weight yarn. The patterns are available individually, or as an e-book collection that includes both patterns. The pieces feature two slip stitch patterns, one resembling seagulls, the other resembling waves. Cannon Beach, Oregon, is one of my favorite places on earth, and the cozy cowl and mitts are just right for a stroll on a breezy beach.

The cowl was inspired by the loveliness of a yarn, Woolfolk Får. This is a beautiful merino wool chainette yarn. When I saw it I knew it wanted to be a very soft cowl featuring a stitch pattern with long floats to show off the construction of the yarn.

The pattern is also pretty but very different in more conventional yarns like single ply Malabrigo Merino Worsted, or a plyed yarn like Malabrigo Rios.

The cowl instructions include three sizes, from a cozy 22″ neck warmer to a larger 24″ cowl. The circumference and height of the cowl are easily adjusted.

Small cowl shown in Malabrigo Merino Worsted

Medium cowl shown in Woolfolk Får

Large cowl shown in Malabrigo Merino Worsted

The mitts are written for one size, 7.5″ in circumference, and will stretch to fit an 8″ palm. Because of the large number of stitches in the seagull and wave stitch pattern, sizing should be altered by changing needle size.

What is Gift-A-Long? It’s a multi-designer promotion through Ravelry to help you kick-start your holiday gift-making. It begins with a pattern sale, and then the fun and games begin on Ravelry, with KAL/CAL activity and prizes. You don’t have to belong to Ravelry to buy patterns, but you do have to join if you want to participate in the KAL/CAL games and prizes. Your project with any paid pattern by a participating designer is eligible for prizes, not just the patterns in the sale.

The pattern sale runs from Tuesday, November 21nd at 8:00 pm US EST – Tuesday, November 28, 2017 at 11:59 pm US EST. The KAL/CALs will run from Tuesday, November 21 at 8pm (US-EST) through the New Years Eve party December 31 at midnight (US-EST). The sale discount is 25%; use the code giftalong2017 at checkout. Check out the Ravelry group for all the details.

These are just a few of the 20 designs I’m including in the sale portion of the event. You can find all 20 designs here; scroll down to the Gift-A-Long 2017 bundle and click.

New this year: We’re having an Instagram Challenge. Here are the prompts, and I can’t wait to see the pictures! Use the hashtags #giftalong2017 and #gal2017 to share your pictures, and to search to see what everyone else is up to. I’m pdxknitterati on Instagram; what’s your IG name?

Are you knitting gifts for the holidays? My little secret, which is not really a secret: I don’t like deadline pressure, so I knit all year and then “shop” out of my knits for gifts. You can do that, too, starting this week. Grab some patterns, participate in the KAL, and just have fun!

Ready, set, KNIT! (or crochet…)

]]>pdxknitteratiComing soon: Cannon Beach Cowlhttps://pdxknitterati.com/2017/11/20/coming-soon-cannon-beach-cowl/
https://pdxknitterati.com/2017/11/20/coming-soon-cannon-beach-cowl/#commentsMon, 20 Nov 2017 16:51:09 +0000http://pdxknitterati.com/?p=11221Continue reading →]]>I fell in love with some yarn recently. It begged me to take it home from Knit Purl.

This is Woolfolk Får, a very soft worsted weight merino wool with a chainette/icord construction.

Look at that chainette! Yarn doesn’t always talk to me, but this one did, loud and clear. It said, “Design something with slip stitch and long threads showing on the right side, so you can see the chainette!” Well, of course.

This cowl knit up in a flash. It features seagulls and ocean waves.

See the chainette yarn structure? So lovely. So soft, too. It’s perfect in this cowl. But do you have to use this yarn for this project? Knitter’s choice! I love it, but I’m also knitting up a sample in Malabrigo Merino Worsted.

I’m curious about how it would look with a plyed yarn. More swatching is in order.

I’ve written up the pattern, and it’s off to the tech editor and a test knitter. Meanwhile, I’m still swooning. I love these stitch patterns; you know how I love elongated stitches. The pattern will be out soon. Do you subscribe to my email newsletter? Newsletter subscribers get discounts on newly released patterns. Comment below if you’d like to subscribe. (You can also subscribe to this blog, which is a separate thing.)

I think I have my Thanksgiving knitting cut out for me! When I’m not cooking…

Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate it. I’m thankful for family, friends, and fiber! And gravy. Mmmmm, gravy. What are you thankful for? (Or, more properly: For what are you thankful?)